Browse Items (56 total)

A proposed nationwide postal questionnaire to Swedish parents who had lost a child due to cancer between 1992 and 1997 was denied approval by the local ethics committee. However, a pilot study to assess the harm and benefit of the questionnaire was…

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the accuracy of physicians' clinical predictions of survival in terminally ill cancer patients. DATA SOURCES: Cochrane Library, Medline (1996-2000), Embase, Current Contents, and Cancerlit databases as well as hand…

Recent studies have made it clear that there are substantial opportunities to improve end-of-life care. Doing so will require solid evidence on which to base clinical and policy decisions and this, in turn, will require a focused research effort.…

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between a physician's subjective mortality prediction and the level of confidence with which that mortality prediction is made. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: The study is a…

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: The characteristics and frequency of clinical problems with the performance of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are uncertain. We analyzed data from two studies of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in The…

OBJECTIVE--To determine the frequency of symptoms of hunger and thirst in a group of terminally ill patients and determine whether these symptoms could be palliated without forced feeding, forced hydration, or parenteral alimentation.…

BACKGROUND: Intensivists must provide enough analgesia and sedation to ensure dying patients receive good palliative care. However, if it is perceived that too much is given, they risk prosecution for committing euthanasia. The goal of this study is…

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of selective nontreatment of extremely premature, critically ill, or malformed infants among all infant deaths in a level III intensive care nursery (ICN) and to determine the reasons documented by neonatologists…

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing availability of advance directives, most patients in the intensive care unit lack written directives, and, therefore, consultation with families about treatment decisions remains the rule. In the context of decision…

The alleviation of suffering is crucial in all of medicine, especially in the care of the dying. Suffering cannot be treated unless it is recognized and diagnosed. Suffering involves some symptom or process that threatens the patient because of fear,…

Participating in end-of-life decisions is life altering for adolescents with incurable cancer, their families, and their healthcare providers. However, no empirically developed and validated guidelines to assist patients, parents, and healthcare…

Ethical issues in the critical care unit frequently arise in children with neurological problems. These ethical issues frequently challenge our medical management of such cases and can be quite problematic. This article reviews key ethical issues…

OBJECTIVE: To explore patient-related factors which influence the decisions of pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) caregivers to restrict life-support interventions. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: A university-affiliated pediatric ICU.…

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine how the decision-making process to forgo life support differs between southern and northern European pediatric intensive care units. DESIGN: Multiple-center, prospective study. SETTING: Thirty-nine…

OBJECTIVES: The decision to forgo life support is frequently made in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). A group of experts is currently preparing recommendations for guidelines concerning this decision-making process in France. We have performed…

The Netherlands is one of the very few countries that has guidelines for the practice of euthanasia. Each year there are about 9700 explicit requests for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide (EAS), of which approximately 3600 patients are agreed…

Much of the discussion since the Arthur case has centred round the rights of handicapped infants to medical treatment. Little has centred round the question of how far one person can rightly be required to sacrifice her life for another, when she has…

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the use and implementation in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) of three levels of restriction of medical intervention: do not resuscitate (DNR), additional limitations of medical interventions beyond DNR, and…

KIE: The widespread consensus that withholding certain life-sustaining treatments, especially those entailing substantial suffering, is sometimes in a patient's best interest conflicts with our basic instincts when the treatments are food and water.…

This statement presents an integrated model for providing palliative care for children living with a life-threatening or terminal condition. Advice on the development of a palliative care plan and on working with parents and children is also…

OBJECTIVE: To identify priorities for quality end-of-life care from the parents' perspective. DESIGN: Anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Three pediatric intensive care units in Boston. PARTICIPANTS: Parents of children who had died…

Each year in the United States, approximately 50,000 children die and 500,000 children cope with life-threatening conditions. Worldwide these numbers are in the millions.1,2 Such children and their families require comprehensive, compassionate, and…

When provided by a skilled, multidisciplinary team, palliative care is highly effective at addressing the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of dying patients and their families. However, some patients who have witnessed harsh death…
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